When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes--Desiderius Erasmus...
A room without books is like a body without a soul--Cicero...
You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend--Paul Sweeney...

Sunday, August 30

I will qualify all of this by saying my natural hair color is very, very dark brown, with a Black Irish grandmother on one side and an Italian grandfather on the other, I somehow managed to get the darkest brown hair possible. My husband swore I had black hair when we met.

Ten years ago I discovered some grey hair, not enough to color but enough to bug me. My adventures in hair coloring started then. At first I used rinses, these were great as you wash them in and they gradually wash out, nice and easy :) All hair color went on hiatus while I was pregnant and nursing, and to be honest the grey wasn't that bad. The need for permanent color arrived around the same time as the peeing in the dump truck incident, please see the July 2005 archive for this.

Since our budget is tight, I color my hair myself. Why do I torment myself? So I can afford books, of course. My hair stylist understands my book obsession and tells me to avoid anything with a burgandy base, it'll turn my hair too red. Well, the last color I used wasn't burgandy based and it still turned a redish color, this time I've been told to add ash to the color I'm using to tone down the red. So last time I went shopping I picked up 2 boxes one dark natural brown and one dark ash brown.

This morning I wake up at 5:00, and the boxes of hair color were calling me from the bathroom. By 5:20 I've mixed my own color with the hope I don't end up a red head, not that I don't love red hair, it's just not for me. I'm up and ready to start coloring.

Right before I'm ready to start applying the color my husband bangs on the door--he's got to go. It's 5 stinking 20 in the morning and I can't get 1/2 an hour to myself.

We have one bathroom in our house. And it is incredibly small, everything is white, the walls, the wallpaper background, the tub, shower curtain, toilet, sink--I'm sure you get it :) The directions in the box say to use the conditioner to protect anywhere you don't want color. Well, I'd need gallons of it to protect me and the entire bathroom. By the time I'm ready to sit for the 1/2 hour to let the color set, I have to scrub me and the entire bathroom. I don't know how it's possible but I managed to even get hair color on my left knee, above the gloves up to my elbows, the side of the claw foot tub, inside the tub (I'm not sure how this happened as I was standing at the sink) and I even got a small dot on the Martha Stewart white canvas shower curtain.

Well, it's done. I'm back to my very, very dark brown sans the grey. My next adventure in hair coloring is in 8 weeks, maybe I'll talk my sister into doing it for me:)

I desperately need to get some laundry done today--hate it. I'll get over having to do laundry if I can get a book store run in, I've got quite a list going.

Junior wants to go to Mass tonight rather than tomorrow morning. This summer he discover going to bed late and sleeping in the morning is kind of cool. We've informed him that starting Sept. 1st it's back to school bedtimes, he's not happy. We start school really late this year--Sept. 9th. Hate to admit this, but I'm one of those moms who count down the days until they go back--11 days :) A bunch of school moms are planning a back to school lunch.

Tomorrow is bingo, I try not to complain about working bingo, even though the old people are still cranky. It saves each school family about $1,500 in tuition each year. I've just started working Sunday bingos, Junior and Dad like it since they have "Boys Day" when I'm not home. I'm hoping that when I get home from bingo I wont discover a new mini-bike in the front yard. Junior wants one and has been bugging us for the last week. My niece has a 90cc dirt bike and he'd like one of those too, but that one I think he'll have to wait on. She has been teaching him how to ride and he's loving it. The hubby has a 1000cc Honda that's not on the road right now and I'm somewhat happy since Junior's been bugging to ride with Dad too.

Got to go things to do--no point in procrastinating.

Edited--Well, I wont be coming home to a mini-bike, we got our school tax bill today--all large ticket items are on hold until Sept. 30th and that bill is paid.

Friday, August 28

I was thinking about doing a "What's New" post but honestly not that much is new--LOL. Life is hectic. What's making it hectic hasn't changed. I need more organization in my life. I'm sure my husband, when he reads this, would completely agree :)

Reading has been fun. Somehow in the last 8 months I've learned not to obsess about what I read. I may not love everything I'm reading, but I'm not picking everything to pieces or throwing books against the wall. Of course, I'm rather picky about what I'm reading, with a tendency to stick with authors I know and am doing a ton of rereading.

So, what have I been reading? New authors first, I've probably read more than these, but these are the ones that kind of stood out good or otherwise:

Sherry Thomas--liked Not Quite a Husband, and have her other two books on my TBR pile.

Michelle Marcos--not a huge fan. Finished Wickedly Ever After, and found the heroine to be a bit TSTL but not enough not to finish the book. Didn't realize it was the 3rd in a series until after I bought it. Picked up the first 2 at the UBS before I finished it. I've started the other two, but you have to be in the right frame of mind to read stupid heroine stories. I've been reading romance for close to 30 years, so I've read my share of TSTL heroine books and there are worse flaws for a book.

Karin Tabke--completely enjoyed Master of Craving, once agian reading the 3rd book in a series first, found the 1st book in the series at the UBS, but am haven't found the 2nd book yet. I'll probably have to break down and order it from Amazon.

Claudia Dain--The Courtesan's Daughter was an interesting book. Loved the mother but the daughter really wasn't all that bright, I still enjoyed the book.